Success story of a digital entrepreneur

Digital currencies using online distributed ledger-block chain hold the promise as a secure, improved and transparent method to speed up transactions, cut costs and eliminate fraud. This instrument has created a huge opportunity for entrepreneurs to find new ways to leverage block chain technology in order to create better systems and services. One of them is Co-founder, Kubitx, a pan-African financial technology start-up, Eric Annan Kubitx. The startup has established an exchange to help Nigerians transfer money without border restrictions, DANIEL ESSIET reports.

The search is on for a digital system that holds the promise as a secure, improved and transparent method to speed up transactions, cut costs and eliminate fraud. Enthusiasts include the founder and ex-CEO of Microsoft, Bill Gates, founder of Virgin Group, Sir Richard Branson, United States ex-Vice -President Al Gore and former Chief Executive, Google, Eric Schmidt. Globally, the financial sector has seen an escalating stream of fascinating new technology uses, cases and applications.

This has created a huge opportunity for entrepreneurs to find new ways to leverage block chain technology in order to create better systems and services for organisations and individuals. One of them is the co-founder, Kubitx, a Pan-African financial technology startup, Eric Annan.

What is block chain technology?

A blockchain is a digital, public ledger that records online transactions.

Trained as an investment banker, Annan pioneered the establishment of two microfinance banks in Ghana. In the last three years, he has been involved in a series of block chain activities and training. He has established an exchange to help Nigerians transfer money without border restrictions, using digital currencies. His vision is to merge the traditional investments with the power of the block chain, to allow clients to trade between conventional financial instruments and digital assets, using a single platform, and in a legal and fully transparent fashion. One of his concerns was that money remittance was greatly hindered by the banks and currency control regulations of different countries. He was challenged by the overwhelming difficulties Nigerians and other Africans experienced trying to transfer and receive money from place to place.

While it took time for banks to transmit money from one country to another, the administration fees charged by banks were unreasonably high.

With years of experience in the financial sector, he turned to digital currency. He discovered it while researching online for opportunities to generate new income.

He believed the invention of block chain will help him make a breakthrough to it. Within the industry, safety and security are crucial. He claimed that block chain technology holds true value in financial transactions. According to him, blockchain presents a solution to the current lack of transparency. It allows for true decentralisation as pricing is moved to this high-tech virtual ledger.

A defining feature of block chain is that it cryptographically encodes data via an algorithm-based process called hashing. Once data is recorded in a block, a unique hash number corresponding to it is generated. The next block is then linked to the previous block by using the latter’s hash number to generate the former’s hash number – this means that if a block is tampered with, it is detected since the hash number that is linked to the subsequent blocks will be lost. Additionally, block chain incorporates other unique security features that make recording data – and transactions, in general – much safer and harder to manipulate.

For him, fintech is a new promising industry that is going to change the Nigerian financial sphere.

Founded in 2016, Annan said Kubitx is a “hybrid digital asset exchange” that leverages distributed ledger technology to facilitate payments throughout Africa and abroad. It also offers trade financing, while handling remittances and over-the-counter trades. In addition, the exchange is registered as a legal entity in Nigeria and Zimbabwe.

Through its simple and user-friendly interface, users can experience trading with no boundary and time limitation.

The startup taking advantage of the digital currency ecosystem has grown rapidly in African countries such as Kenya, Ghana, Uganda, Nigeria, South Africa and Zimbabwe over the past few years. The exchange hopes to open new trading platforms across the continent.

Like every start-up, the business encountered a lot of difficulties and had to go through a lot of challenges.

At a time, he and other co-founders felt heartbroken but they were not deterred. He saw a long time vision.

To survive, he reworked his vision, revenue model and make changes constantly. The digital exchange, he added, aims to become a vehicle of choice for individuals and retail investors around the globe, integrating conventional and crypto markets.

He is a determined entrepreneur, positive about the new possibilities that digital currency and technology can bring to the life of many more Nigerians in the near future.

According to him, Kubitx is just not another crypto exchange, but it’s a creation born out of real passion to serve. He is very positive and optimistic about industry. According to him, there are still a lot of opportunities in digital currencies and the underlying block chain technology. He believes that non-cash payment would be in the mainstream in not so long future.

Kubitx recently reached an agreement with Interswitch International, a major payment switching company for most Nigerian banks, with an additional presence in Kenya and Uganda. It will operate its fiat-to-crypto payments and remittance business in those markets, the exchange said. It has struck similar deals with Modulus Global, NEM Foundation and in Zimbabwe with undisclosed local financial institutions.

He is working with developers to try to get them involved in using block chain to bring solutions to the problems that are faced by Africans in everyday life.

His advice to young entrepreneurs: “What every entrepreneur needs to do is to be selfless and take away the “I and Me”, and begin to think like “Us, We” in all the projects they wish to come up with. All big internet companies such as Apple, Google, Amazon, Alibaba, Facebook, etc., were all built with synergies not on individual strength. To have a legacy enterprise in Africa that can go beyond two to 10 generations like we have in other parts of the world, we need to think as business people, not being emotional, sentimental, but adhere to strict rules that applies to successful ones.”